A day later, fans of both the Cincinnati Bearcats and Miami RedHawks are still processing UC's stunning 21-17 come-from-behind football win Saturday night at Yager Stadium in Oxford.

With a crowd of 21,811 watching, UC rallied from a late 17-6 deficit and claimed the series' traveling Victory Bell trophy for the 12th consecutive year. The Bearcats drew to within 17-12 on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hayden Moore to wide receiver Kahlil Lewis with 2:52 left, then made it 17-14 on a two-point conversion pass from Moore to Lewis.

What did Clements think when he suddenly saw the ball coming his way, thrown by Miami junior quarterback Gus Ragland?

"I was saying that I have to catch it," Clements said, smiling. "The game was on the line, and big-time players make big-time plays. I just had to make a play for my team."

Miami marched downfield for a final attempt to win, but Ragland was pressured heavily by UC defensive tackle Cortez Broughton and threw incomplete on 4th-and-5 from the Bearcats' 20-yard line. With seven seconds left, the game was over and UC fans giddily jumped, laughed and cheered.

"It's an incredible program win," first-year UC coach Luke Fickell said afterward, to the tune of more Bell sounds just outside the locker room. "To put yourself behind the 8-ball like we did, and to see guys continue to fight and scratch and claw. There was no give-up. There was no pouting. No chins down, heads down. That's what I'm most proud of."

Here are five takeaways from the game, which lifted UC to a 2-1 season record and dropped Miami to 1-2:

Give it up for the defense

With the UC offense sputtering for much of the night, the defense generally held the fort. Miami was limited to 291 yards total offense, including a meager 2.2 yards per rush.

Along with the big plays by Clements and Broughton, there were 10 tackles by linebacker Jaylyin Minor, two sacks by defensive end Kevin Mouhon and one sack by defensive tackle Marquise Copeland, and four pass break-ups by cornerback Linden Stephens.

The UC secondary was burned a couple of times in the first half by Ragland, including a 24-yard TD pass to receiver Luke Mayock. But, Ragland threw for only 84 yards in the second half (221 for the game).

Give it up for the offense

Twitter Nation buried Moore during his slow start, after a poor performance in a 36-14 loss at Michigan last week. But Moore produced in key situations in the second half. After going 10-for-22 for only 46 yards passing in the first half, Moore was 14-for-21 for 176 yards after halftime. Moore threw the one TD pass, and he was intercepted once in each half.

Moore was victimized by six dropped passes, a season-long problem that certainly will be addressed again in practice. The Bearcats did produce 139 yards rushing (4.0 average) and Moore was sacked only once.

Fickell is committed to Moore, despite some fans calling for backup Ross Trail. UC has not completed a pass for longer than 29 yards this year, but some of that is because of drops. Notably, the one by wide-open Devin Gray near the Miami 40-yard line on what would have been an 86-yard TD pass. Things happen, but this obviously cannot keep happening.

Young running backs step up

No. 1 UC running back Mike Boone (twisted ankle) watched from the sidelines in a walking boot. Fickell said he expects senior Boone to return for next Saturday's game at Navy, but UC fans were heartened by the performances of Boone's backups.

"I think that's really what got this rolling," Fickell said. "And people would say, I don't really remember, was that the big run? No, I think it's the 4-yard run, the 5-yard run, the 3-yard run. The battle that you see from those guys taking man-on-man in the hole. You could just sense that stuff on the sidelines, and that's where the adrenaline came from. I'm telling you, that went a lot further than some of the long throws."

Don't grease those posts

Miami put grease on the goal posts, presumably to prevent fans from tearing them down in the event of a RedHawks victory. UC fans took great delight when they learned about that, via social media.

Some truly thought this was the night that Miami would end its 11-year Victory Bell losing streak. Las Vegas lines had the Bearcats as a 4-point underdog entering the game, with the line as high as 5 1/2 points during the week. But once again, the Bell has returned to its customary home in the UC trophy case in the Richard E. Lindner Center lobby.

UC next visits Navy (2-0, 1-0 American Athletic Conference West) in the Bearcats' AAC season opener next Saturday (3:30 p.m.). UC was picked to finish fourth in the AAC East in the preseason league media poll, with Navy voted third in the West.

The Bearcats' third straight road game will mark another stiff test. The perennially underrated Midshipmen have posted winning records in 13 of the last 14 years, and coach Ken Niumatalolo is among the best (79-42 record, in his 11th year at Navy).

From here, the game appears to be a toss-up. It would be a huge road win should UC pull it off, and would set up a winnable non-league home game against Marshall on Sept. 30. Marshall (2-1) beat the visiting Miami RedHawks 31-26 in a season opener.